Press treats community partners to BlueClaws game

Staff report
1:45 p.m. EDT June 5, 2014

The Asbury Park Press invited its community partners in the APP Connections consortium to enjoy a Lakewood BlueClaws doubleheader and lunch in the Champion Clubhouse at FirstEnergy Park. APP Connections is a grassroots effort recently launched by the Asbury Park Press to help support the students of Asbury Park, where the district suffers a 51 percent graduation rate. The coalition has in the works an upcoming donation of more than 4,500 books to the district, college-prep assistance for high-schoolers and a summer theater program at the city’s Premier Theatre. Attendees included representatives from the Monmouth and Ocean County prosecutors’ offices, Asbury Park NAACP, the Mercy Center, the Boys and Girls Club of Monmouth County, the Affordable Housing Alliance, LearningRx of Red Bank, Asbury Park Housing Authority and more. Pictured at top, Coach Teko Hammary, the creator of Sportz Farm and Matt DeSantis of Asbury Park, a volunteer with Sportz Farm, enjoy the game. Rignt: Donna Morgan, a trainer and committee chairperson for Housing and Women in NAACP, talks with Press staff writer Susanne Cervenka and education editor Alesha Williams Boyd. The Greensboro Grasshoppers won the opener, 1-0, and the Lakewood BlueClaws won the next game, 2-0.(Photo: Doug Hood/Staff Photographer)

The Asbury Park Press invited its community partners in the APP Connections consortium to enjoy a Lakewood BlueClaws doubleheader and lunch in the Champion Clubhouse at FirstEnergy Park. APP Connections is a grassroots effort recently launched by the Press to help support the students of Asbury Park, where the district suffers a 51 percent graduation rate. The coalition has in the works an upcoming donation of more than 4,500 books to the district, college-prep assistance for high-schoolers and a summer theater program at the city's Premier Theatre.

Attendees included representatives from the Monmouth and Ocean County prosecutor's offices, Asbury Park NAACP, the Mercy Center, the Boys and Girls Club of Monmouth County, the Affordable Housing Alliance, LearningRx of Red Bank, Asbury Park Housing Authority and more.

Pictured at top: Coach Diteko Hammary, the founder and director of Sportz Farm, and Matt DeSantis of Asbury Park, a volunteer with Sportz Farm, enjoy the game.